COLORADO at Impact Theatre

Somebody please give Impact Theatre a bunch of money so they can put on their awesome shows somewhere you can actually see and hear them.

Here’s the deal: Impact performs in a tiny space underneath a pizza parlor. When I say tiny, I mean little bitty. I have to watch my head as I duck my way to the seats. Peter Nachtrieb, author of the hilariously wicked COLORADO, can’t stand on the stage without causing major head trauma.

But tiny isn’t the problem. The problem is all the noise from the aforementioned pizza parlor. Case in point: About halfway through Act One of last night’s COLORADO, the dad looks around the house and says that since his beauty queen daughter has disappeared, “It’s quiet. So quiet.” A hush falls over the house. Dramatic silence, broken only by chairs moving overhead, drunk pizza-eaters laughing overhead, and fans cheering during the baseball game overhead. When I can learn that the Cardinals are going to the World Series while I’m watching a play, it’s time to start looking for a real theater.

Putting aside complaints about the performance space, the play itself is wonderful. So many funny lines. So many brilliant moments. It’s hilarious, edgy, twisted and many other adjectives you’ll probably see in the reviews. You should most definitely see it.

Just watch out if it’s raining: The last show I saw under the pizza parlor, it was raining, and the seat next to me was getting dripped on the whole time. And this is an underground theater. If you are a rich person wanting to support some of the most genius theater in the Bay Area, kindly re-read the first sentence of this post.

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2 Replies to “COLORADO at Impact Theatre”

Glad you enjoyed “Colorado” as well as what we do in general, Tim — if not so much the atmosphere. We’re trying to find an effective way to minimize the noise factor, and we’ve also looked into less-cramped venue options. Like you say in your last sentence, it would take a rich person — actually, probably more like a hundred pretty-well-off people — to help make the latter dream a reality.

However, if we can consistently play to good-sized audiences, with a number of those people helping us out with even small- or medium-sized donations, eventually we’ll be able to move on up. So please do keep spreading the word — for small companies like Impact, that’s pretty much the only effective way to be successful.

Hell, yes! I hope I made it clear — I’m pretty sure I did — that Impact is doing some of the best work in the Bay Area. Sheila Callaghan, Peter Nachrtieb, and even people whose sites I DON’T link to in the blogroll. And for a lot of the more raucous shows, the atmosphere isn’t as problematic. It’s just the combination of quiet drama and World Series that can become unintentionally funny. But I’m definitely coming to Jukebox Stories — and definitely tossing extra dough in the “Movin’ On Up” jar.